# Smoking in Victorian England



## indigosmoke (Sep 1, 2009)

Thought some of you might find this of interest--

"Cigarettes also came home [to England] from the Crimea [with soldiers who served in the Crimean War]. Early in the nineteenth century, gentlemen used tobacco only in the form of snuff. Working men smoked pipes. After the Napoleonic wars, cigars come into common use; intellectuals and artists took up pipes. Since the smell of cigars and pipes was very unpleasant when it got into heavy curtains or women's long hair, men at home smoked in their private study or went outside to the garden. Working men smoked in pubs or in the street, not generally at home. Even at the end of the period only 17% of tobacco was sold in the form of cigarettes. Elderly countrywomen sometimes enjoyed a pipe, but women who smoked cigarettes usually did it in secret with a woman friend - cigarette smoking by women was definitely 'fast' behavior."

from _Daily Life in Victorian England_ by Sally Mitchell


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## Twiggz (Feb 15, 2009)

Nice.. I love fast women! :tape:


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

Very interesting!


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## Mad Hatter (Apr 8, 2007)

Cool post


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## juni (Oct 16, 2009)

I found this factoid amusing:

"
1600 - Sir Walter Raleigh reputedly gave Elizabeth I of England a pipe to smoke, it made her so sick that she believed she had been poisoned. Sir Raleigh had been introduced to pipe smoking whilst on a trip to America where he had met Ralph Lane the Governor of Virginia. The British Colony of Virginia subsequently provided a great source of tobacco for the United Kingdom. "

I guess she had some virginia leaf.


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## abush22678 (Jan 2, 2010)

indigosmoke said:


> Thought some of you might find this of interest--
> 
> "Cigarettes also came home [to England] from the Crimea [with soldiers who served in the Crimean War]. Early in the nineteenth century, gentlemen used tobacco only in the form of snuff. Working men smoked pipes. After the Napoleonic wars, cigars come into common use; intellectuals and artists took up pipes. Since the smell of cigars and pipes was very unpleasant when it got into heavy curtains or women's long hair, men at home smoked in their private study or went outside to the garden. Working men smoked in pubs or in the street, not generally at home. Even at the end of the period only 17% of tobacco was sold in the form of cigarettes. Elderly countrywomen sometimes enjoyed a pipe, but women who smoked cigarettes usually did it in secret with a woman friend - cigarette smoking by women was definitely 'fast' behavior."
> 
> from _Daily Life in Victorian England_ by Sally Mitchell


Gandalf is so cool how he smokes his pipe and blows smoke rings, and this was a cool post. I had no idea that smoking cigarettes for women was "fast".


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## MattN (Dec 19, 2009)

Twiggz said:


> Nice.. I love fast women! :tape:


ound:


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## stoked (Nov 30, 2009)

Good factoid! Thanks for posting. 

My late mother used to say that ladies shouldn't smoke on the street - I guess a carry over of that Victorian taboo (I hope no one gets offended by that - the last generation said a lot of things we could never get away with in this PC generation!)


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## indigosmoke (Sep 1, 2009)

Glad you guys found it of interest.


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